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By
NICK ZEGARAC
"The Thin Man" is an urbane,
acidic and charming murder mystery derived from
the best seller by Dashiell Hammett. It features
William Powell and Myrna Loy as husband and wife
private investigators Nick and Nora Charles. He's
a playful alcoholic who is immune to taking his
work seriously. She's a lanky brunette with a
wicked jaw and a host of one liners. Together they
investigate the disappearance of a scientist
(William Henry) after his frantic daughter,
Dorothy (Maureen O'Sullivan) believes that foul
play has befallen him.
As with all of the subsequent "Thin Man"
installments, (there are an additional 5 in the
series, none of which are available on DVD as of
this writing) this film relies heavily on the
chemistry generated from Loy and Powell and their
wire-haired terrier, Asta. If the plot meanders
aimlessly rather than in a linear format, it's a
small price to pay for such a witty and charming
trio on the road to getting their man. The
investment in character development is not wasted.
Warner Home Video has done an outstanding job on
"The Thin Man" DVD. Where previous copies of this
movie on VHS and laserdisc looked as though they
had been fed through a meat grinder, suffering
from age, damage and disrepair, the print used for
this DVD looks as though it were shot yesterday,
with incredibly sharp, detailed images almost
entirely free of any such ravages of time. The
visual quality of the print is remarkably solid
with little edge enhancement and no pixelization.
The audio is mono but well represented with no
background hiss. Apart from giving us theatrical
trailers for all of the Thin Man movies there are
no extras. |
